Longshore union: Yes to NBA, no way to SoDo

The South of Downtown region of Seattle, a major part of its working waterfront, should not be burdened with a new arena and must not be gentrified, according to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

“We can build an arena anywhere, but we can’t rebuild a world class deep water port terminal anywhere,” Cameron Williams, president of ILWU Local 19, wrote in a letter Thursday to the Seattle City Council and King County Council.

County Executive Dow Constantine

ILWU Local 19 has about 3,000 members, and Williams noted that 4,000 of the 12,000 direct jobs at the Port of Seattle’s container terminal could be impacted by congestion and delays.

As well, the ILWU takes a dim view of the prospective transformation of SoDo into a visitor magnet replete with shops and restaurants and entertainment.

“If this development of an arena is approved, more projects will come on line and city government will be pressured to rezone industrial SoDo for entertainment and retail development,” Williams wrote. “This will mean the eventual eroding of our maritime and industrial economic base.

“We do not agree that this eroding of these industrial lands and the jobs associated with it are inevitable: Whether or not this happens is a matter of choice.”

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn

The ILWU letter echos concerns previously voiced by Port of Seattle commissioners, as well as manufacturers dependent on the waterfront.

The maritime community has argued that 70 percent of inbound freight reaching the Port of Seattle is “discretionary,” which means it could be rerouted to Long Beach, Calif., or Oakland, to the Port of Tacoma, or to Prince Rupert or Vancouver in British Columbia.

“Permanent job creation from a sports and entertainment arena in SoDo will not make up for displaced marine and industrial jobs in the long term,” Cameron warned.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and King County Executive Dow Constantine have appeared as boosters for the project, along with Seattle City Councilman Bruce Harrell. The King County Council has seemed more skeptical about Hansen’s proposal.

Hansen is promising a full-court press this summer to win support for the 18,000-seat arena, which could accommodate both the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League.

In his letter, Cameron took note of promises made when Major League Baseball and National Football League stadiums were built in SoDo. “The reality is that transportation, freight, bicycle and pedestrian mitigation projects planned for the current stadiums was never completed,” he wrote.

Money that was to have gone for a Lander Street overpass was diverted to the reconstruction of Mercer Street.

The arena battle is shaping up as a choice of what kind of waterfront Seattle wants (at least in the SoDo district), a working port handling the Northwest’s exports, or a San Francisco-style entertainment district.